112 lines
4.6 KiB
HTML
112 lines
4.6 KiB
HTML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
|
||
|
||
<html>
|
||
<version>1</version>
|
||
|
||
<head>
|
||
<title>Editorial Guidelines</title>
|
||
</head>
|
||
<body>
|
||
<p id="category"><a href="/contribute/">Contribute</a></p>
|
||
<h1>Guideline for editors and content contributors</h1>
|
||
|
||
<p id="introduction">
|
||
In editing and updating existing content for fsfe.org, the Editorial
|
||
team requires certain standard practices in style, in order that both
|
||
information pages and news content remain consistent and above all, clear.
|
||
|
||
This guide is not designed to impact on individual creativity. By providing
|
||
basic parameters this guide intends that the hard work is done before editing
|
||
begins, and that contributors can be as thoughtful in their writing as they
|
||
wish.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<h2>Tone and Style</h2>
|
||
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li>Articles shouldn't feel like a sales pitch (even if what's being 'sold' is
|
||
Free).</li>
|
||
<li>Articles should be informative: they should center on a concept and detail
|
||
that concept, breaking it down in longer pieces, using subtitles. </li>
|
||
<li>Make sure that the articles are educated: it’s important that the writing
|
||
sounds authoritative. If you use quotes, or refer to sources, link to them. The
|
||
UK's Guardian Newspaper adheres particularly well to these three points, and is
|
||
a useful place for <a
|
||
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/may/17/british-airways-strike-called-
|
||
off">examples</a></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
|
||
<h2>Spelling and Grammar</h2>
|
||
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li>Use British English spelling.</li>
|
||
<li>Use complete sentences. Avoid beginning sentences with ‘however’, ‘because’,
|
||
or ‘so’.</li>
|
||
<li>Numbers below 10 should be written in letters (one, two, three) but numbers
|
||
above 10 must be in numbers ('167', not 'one hundred sixty seven')</li>
|
||
<li>Don’t use dashes. Instead utilise colons, and semi colons.</li>
|
||
<li>Almost always use abbreviated forms. For example: "it's" and not "it is";
|
||
"that's" and not "that is"; "they're" and not "they are".</li>
|
||
<li>Always use the definite article of "Free Software Foundation Europe", but never
|
||
when using the acronym "FSFE". eg. "The Free Software Foundation Europe is 10 years
|
||
old. FSFE has accomplished much...". Not "Free Software Foundation Europe is 10 years
|
||
old. The FSFE has accomplished much..."</li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
|
||
<h2>Formatting</h2>
|
||
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li>If the text is more than 500 words, break it up with sub-titles.</li>
|
||
<li>Use short paragraphs. As a rule, aim for paragraphs between 30 and 45
|
||
words.</li>
|
||
<li>The on-line marketing resource Copyblogger provides a very informative
|
||
<a href="http://www.copyblogger.com/copywriting-101">10-step
|
||
guide</a> to copywriting. Of course, some of its points are sales orientated,
|
||
but
|
||
its general sentiment Is very useful indeed:
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li>Do not use footnotes. This ensures greater portability of the article to
|
||
different mediums and formats, and also makes for easier reading, if handled
|
||
carefully.</li>
|
||
<li>Use the HTML abbr tag for acronyms and initialisms where appropriate. Note
|
||
that this should not be used for the first instance of the use of the FSFE
|
||
acronym, however.</li>
|
||
<li>Don't make any attempt to paginate documents that are intended for
|
||
publication
|
||
on-line in the first instance.</li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
|
||
|
||
<h2>Terms</h2>
|
||
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li>When referring to the activities, views etc. of FSFE, the organisation's
|
||
name (or its acronym) should be used. Avoid use of 'we' and 'us' in text for
|
||
publication. Occasionally using such terms can be useful for greater impact in
|
||
headlines and tag-lines. In these cases text should always be in quotes. Use of
|
||
the third person maintains portability, clarity and professionalism.</li>
|
||
<li>'Linux' is a kernel. GNU/Linux is an operating system. Use these terms
|
||
accordingly in your writing to avoid confusion.</li>
|
||
<li>In the first instance of FSFE being referred to in an article, the
|
||
organisation should be written thus: FSFE (Free Software Foundation Europe).
|
||
Articles may be distributed beyond the FSFE website, or later copied by readers
|
||
to other locations. FSFE is a term which connotes nothing without explanatory
|
||
text of the meaning of the acronym.</li>
|
||
<li>Free Software should be referred to as Free Software. Not FOSS, FLOSS or
|
||
OSS.
|
||
Free Software and Open Source software is one and the same thing, approached
|
||
from different points of view - they serve the same referential purpose (which
|
||
is not to say that they communicate the same thing). Therefore compounded
|
||
acronyms refer to the same thing twice in one term, which makes little sense,
|
||
and encourages misunderstanding. We deal with Free Software, and thus we call it
|
||
Free Software.</li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
|
||
</body>
|
||
</html>
|
||
<!--
|
||
Local Variables: ***
|
||
mode: xml ***
|
||
End: ***
|
||
-->
|